Did the Belarusian President say that NATO should consider opening a second front against Russia? No, that's not true: The video was edited and altered from an original address to the nation in the parliament. The Belarusian president was referring to Polish Defense Minister Blaszczak, who supposedly said that NATO should seriously consider opening a second front against Belarus. Lukashenko stated that this was said at one of the private meetings.
A video (archived here) was posted on the TikTok account @kolitikaua on April 4, 2023. The caption in Russian reads (as translated by Lead Stories staff):
NATO should open a second front against Russia
At the bottom of the screen, there is another caption that claims:
RF spends trillions of rubles to kill people and ruin states
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Fri May 19 16:20:18 2023 UTC)
In the original video, recorded on March 31, the Belarusian president delivers his annual address to the people of Belarus at the National Assembly. The creator of the TikTok video put together various parts of the speech, to form misleading statements.
Actually, Lukashenko said (as translated by Lead Stories staff):
...the world spends trillions of dollars killing people and ruining states, rather than creating.
In other words, the world, and not Russia spends this tremendous amount of money on dreadful activities.
As for NATO opening a second front against Russia, the Belarusian leader originally stated:
Polish Minister of Defense, Blaszczak said (at the end of last year): If Ukraine fails to achieve a decisive victory in the east, NATO should seriously consider opening a second front against Belarus. At one of the private meetings, he agitated the attendees to do so!
Furthermore, in a manipulated video with added subtitles, Lukashenko purportedly declares:
This is a profound crisis, one that is all-encompassing, multidimensional, and in many ways manmade by Russian President Putin to destroy Ukraine to the last Ukrainian, I quote.
In the original version, the fragment reads as follows:
This is a profound crisis, one that is all-encompassing, multidimensional, and in many ways manmade - to destroy competitors...
The words "Russian President Putin to destroy Ukraine to the last Ukrainian, I quote", were taken from different parts of the address of the Belarusian leader, which lasted for more than four hours.
As of May 19, 2023, this video has received about two million views. Fabricated excerpts of the Belarusian president's addresses are trending in the Russian-speaking segment of TikTok. Other Lead Stories articles debunking these altered videos can be found here and here.
